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April 29, 2010

Quinoa Salad with Apricots & Pistachios - A Summertime Delight.

Growing up, when it was just Mom and me for dinner; this is what we would make. Between the two of us, we would devour the entire thing. A favorite then, a favorite now.

Experiment with this recipe – you will discover all sorts of flavor combinations you never thought to put together. Don’t have apricots, use peaches. Don’t have golden raisins, throw in some grapes or dried cranberries. No lime, use a lemon. It is really hard to mess this one up, believe me, I have tried.

Make a little extra and save it for lunch the following day. This salad keeps amazingly well, even after you have put the dressing on it.

Salad:

3 cups water

1 cup uncooked Quina

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

4 cups romaine lettuce

10 dried apricots – chopped

1/3 cup golden raisins

½ cup shelled dry-roasted pistachios

½ cup green onions – chopped

¼ cup cilantro – chopped

2 tablespoons mint – chopped

Vinaigrette:

½ tsp grated lime rind

3 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons sweet rice wine

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cumin

¼ teaspoon coriander

¼ teaspoon paprika

To Prepare the Salad:

Combine water, salt and quinoa in a large saucepan. Boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15mins.

Drain and reserve 3 tablespoons cooking liquid.

Combine all salad ingredients with quinoa.

To Prepare Vinaigrette:

Combine 3 Tablespoons reserved cooking liquid with all other ingredients. Stir, shake and generally mix up. A ball-jar works perfect for this. Just shake it up.